Maintaining/losing weight and mental illness, possible CFS/ME

Are you taking any anti-depressants? They can be mildly to majorly sedating. My mom just started on one to help her sleep and she had to quarter the dose - the first day she was like a zombie.

Wellbutrin is an anti-depressant that's a little speedy. I found it in 2000 when I thought I had CF but it turned out to be a combination of the foods I was eating and not eating as well as being too sedentary - moderate movement gives me energy.

What's a workout that leaves you exhausted for two days? Maybe you're pushing yourself too hard.

I have seasonal depression, which tends to recur (to varying degrees of severity) every winter. Fatigue and depression are closely linked, and it's kind of a chicken-and-the-egg situation; it's hard to tell which is the cause and which is the symptom, so I think it's best to try to treat both regardless. I've described my particular brand of depression-related fatigue as inertia in the past.

The most important thing for me is to be gentle with myself and not push. I have enough noise in my head telling me I'm worthless, so the last thing I want to do is to add to that message. When my depression is really loud, I focus on eating balanced meals at somewhat regular intervals (because not eating or eating unbalanced meals tends to tank my blood sugar and that always makes me feel worse), getting in some kind of easy physical activity every day because it helps me connect with my body and get out of my head (walking outside and stretching are wonderful), and letting myself be okay with stopping if I feel like it. Running myself into the ground is a bad idea just generally, but especially if I'm fighting depression too, because that in itself takes an enormous amount of energy. One year, I had to sit in the gym parking lot every visit for about three weeks and talk myself into going in; the only way it worked was for me to say "I'll stay for 5 minutes and then let myself leave if I still feel terrible." Typically, I'd start to feel better after that 5 minutes, but I needed to give myself permission to listen to my body and change the plan if it felt counter-productive.

I know you've said it's hard to exercise after you get home; could you go for a 5-minute walk outside when you get home instead? Deep belly breathing and listening that any music that you love (or audiobooks) are definitely encouraged. Then, only if it feels good, you can keep going.

Friend me if you'd like! I'm also battling mental illness (anxiety disorder) while re-losing weight

I'd second perhaps discussing trying other meds.

But, you don't need to exercise to lose weight. That can come from diet alone. I haven't been doing as much exercise as usual the last few weeks due to my mental health giving me a good kicking but aside from this week (where I have accidentally but willingly fallen into a diet break week) I have managed to keep tracking and keep my losses at 0.5lbs per week. In fact that pretty much goes for the entirety of this year. Tracking my intake is the one thing I can keep grip on so I do. Exercise happens when it happens, sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's a little or none. I just view that as bonus eats!